Posted by Heartbourne on Thursday, July 23rd, 2009 - 42 Comments
Tags: Druid, druid of the sun, hero class, lore, patch 3.2, proverb, Shaman
Proverb is a column discussing the lore of Warcraft. Comment and let us know what you would like to see in future columns!
Many lore-minded players have likely heard about the new Druid quest in patch 3.2 for Horde players. It starts in Dalaran, and it involves a badly injured warrior by the name of Aponi Brightmane who wants to return to fight the Scourge. When players arrive in Thunder Bluff, Aponi speaks with Tahu Sagewind, a Druid. Their conversation touches on the history of Tauren druidism, notably Mu’sha. The full text is provided below, with what I think are the important parts in bold:
Aponi Brightmane says: Talk to me, Tahu. Something. Anything! I’m going stir-crazy.
Tahu Sagewind laughs softly.
Tahu Sagewind says: All right, Aponi. I’ve enough on my mind to share. Have you ever spoken to the elves of Moonglade?
Aponi Brightmane says: Not much.
Tahu Sagewind says: The elves speak of a moon goddess, did you know? They put great stock in the light given by the moon.
Aponi Brightmane says: Like Mu’sha.
Tahu Sagewind says: Just like her. The parallels I’ve heard are interesting. And it’s no secret all druids, Shu’halo and elf alike, can call upon Mu’sha’s light.
Aponi Brightmane says: Where are you going with this?
Tahu Sagewind says: I wonder. Hamuul has guided us well, and I’ve learned so much from him. The legends sasy that our people were druids when time began…
Aponi Brightmane says: I hear the “but” in your voice…
Tahu Sagewind says: …but what Hamuul teaches is what the elves know. The night elves. They put such stock in their moon goddess, as creatures of the night.
Aponi Brightmane says: Do you think his teachings are wrong?
Tahu Sagewind says: No! No, nothing like that. He is an elder for good reason, sister. Mu’sha is one of the Earthmother’s eyes, and she watches over us. That isn’t sinister.
Tahu Sagewind says: But we’re nothing if not people who strive for balance. Our warriors fight only when there is need. Our hunters take only what the tribes require to live, and use all they can when they do. The shaman stand as guide and mediator to the elemental spirits.
Tahu Sagewind says: And while we, as druids, are guardians of nature, I wonder if we’ve overlooked a key aspect of balance in all things.
Aponi Brightmane says: So are you going to bring this up to the elder?
Tahu Sagewind says: No, no. No need for him to trouble about a student’s idle philosophizing while he entertains a friend.
Aponi Brightmane says: I suppose so. It’s not silly, though, what you said.
Tahu Sagewind says: Well, it isn’t exactly a new thought, sister.
Aponi Brightmane says: I see that thoughtful frown, Tahu.
Tahu Sagewind says: Sorry, sister. Its nothing to worry about.
Aponi Brightmane says: But something is on your mind, right?
Tahu Sagewind says: I’m thinking about the front to the north. The one you’re so eager to return to.
Aponi Brightmane says: What about it?
Tahu Sagewind says: I know I’m counseling patience, Aponi, but I don’t like remaining here any more than you do. Times are bleak, and failing to act only makes me worry that my idle hand may have been the one to turn the tide.
Tahu Sagewind says: Still… there is balance in all things, even death. I simply hate the concept that such destruction and darkness might be necessary.
Aponi Brightmane says: There’s a phrase… “Its always darkest before the dawn.” The dawn will come, though, Tahu. The sun will rise. The balance will shift back to where it should be.
Aponi Brightmane smiles and gestures to the north.
Aponi Brightmane says: Even on the glacier itself, the sun manages to peek through the gloom. I have hope, Tahu. I think we’ll make it through this, no matter how dire it looks.
Aponi Brightmane says: But I’d still rather be there on the front lines helping it happen rather than trying to placate myself with belief. We can’t just sit around and hope it happens.
Tahu Sagewind says: I know, sister. I know. We’ll return to fighting one day. For now, though, maybe it’s best to spread the word to others… give them the hope you have.
Aponi Brightmane says: And through that hope, strengthen our side in the fight?
Tahu Sagewind says: That’s the idea.
The quest is unfinished and we don’t know if it will be extended before patch 3.2 goes live. However, there are LOTS of references to the sun and “a new dawn” in there, even when they aren’t talking about An’she. It is generally accepted that Malfurion Stormrage was the first (mortal) Druid, and the druidism that the Tauren speak of that they claim predates Malfurion is false or in a drastically different form from Cenarius’ teachings. In fact, the latter might be the case, with the Tauren originally practicing an entirely different form of druidism focused on some form of the light. It could be that An’she and/or Mu’sha (Elune to the night elves) are actually Naaru, and Tauren could come to wield the holy light through the worship of the Earth Mother. Tauren mythology claims that An’she, the goddess of the sun, was an eye of the Earth Mother, ripped out and tossed through the cosmos, perused by the Earth Mother’s other eye, the goddess Mu’sha/Elune. We could see all of this develop. Currently the only Horde race capable of being Paladins are blood elves, and it could be that Blizzard would like to expand that to give Horde players more of a choice.
The other obvious conclusion would be that a new type of druid may be in the works. Druids already come in many flavors in the Warcraft mythology. Druids of the Sun could be a real possibly, and this could be a new hero class in the expansion. Most players agree that “Arch Druids” would simply be “super Druids” and would leave no room for regular druids in the game. Current druids are “Druids of the Wild” and are focused on shapeshifting, while Druids of the Sun could be something completely new. Blizzard has stated that they don’t want new classes to simply be hybrids of other classes. I don’t know what precisely a Druid of the Sun would do. They could come up with a whole new resource system outside of mana, like they did with Death Knights, to make the class very unique. In addition, it makes sense for Death Knights to be any race, but most other classes that players theorize about should have race restrictions, so I don’t think this idea is too far out.
With most players looking to the Maelstrom and the Emerald Dream in the theoretical new expansion “Cataclysm“, its likely that Night Elf and Druid lore could play a major role. I think either or even both of the conclusions I discussed could happen.
As for other races, we could also see Dlood Elf Druids. There were high elf druids prior to the second war who erected the Runestones which hid the elven magic from the Burning Legion, as well as protected Quel’thalas from attack from Arthas during the third war. They wielded the powers of nature through the arcane, and many of them became high elven rangers. Some half-elven druids became more feral and turned into savagekin. The high elven rangers that we raised by the Scourge became Dark Rangers, who turned to shadow magic instead of natural magic for their powers. It seems that some blood elves kept up the practice, such as High Botanist Freywinn and many of the Bloodwarder and Sunseeker blood elves currently (previously?) in the Botanica of Tempest Keep. It could be that from their redeemed light-given powers from M’uru and A’dal and the revelations of the Tauren studying the light, blood elves players could see druidism in their future. The line from the dialog “strengthen our side in the fight” really makes me think this may be the case.
As for the Alliance, Wildhammer Dwarves are sort of back in the Alliance with an Alliance friendly base in Aerie Peak as well as their gryphon riders in Outland. Wildhammer dwarves are known to often worship nature and the elements and become druids and Shaman. Allowing Alliance players to create Wildhammer Dwarves of these classes would open up the number of races able to be Druids and Shaman in the Alliance to two, a perfect analog to Blood Elf druids and Tauren Paladins.
Finally, perhaps this means we will see the Cenarian Circle join the fight in Icecrown. It would make the Icecrown Citadel fight even more epic.
What do you think? Is this a red herring, or are these clues to a bigger development?
As the Tauren NPCs say, may the eternal sun shine upon thee!
Related Posts: Possible New Class/Race Combinations, Proverb: Ysera and the Green Dragonflight, Part 1, Proverb: Ysera and the Green Dragonflight, Part 2, Bad News, Bears?, Kara Love!,
By lolumad92 on Thursday, July 23rd, 2009 at 1:44 pm
FIRST
By Lolandorder on Thursday, July 23rd, 2009 at 1:47 pm
Hmmmm interesting
that was cool
kept me reading
By Slinkz on Thursday, July 23rd, 2009 at 1:59 pm
Speculation day at PL?
I gotta admit, I did not know that there was A) that much of a difference between Tauren or NE druids and B) they had such different lore. But I guess the surprise of B follows my lack of knowing A.
Either way, I <3 the lore topics the blog offers, speculative like this and iTZKooPA’s or not.
By Ivan on Thursday, July 23rd, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Damn, cool post! I really like how it sounds “Druids of the Sun”=)
By Laeltis on Thursday, July 23rd, 2009 at 2:27 pm
Very good intuitiveness. Reading between the lines like that is what Blizzard wants. It is quite reasonable to say that from what you’ve gathered. Now, as I’ve said before, we can speculate all we want before even BlizzCon ‘09, but things could be totally different come BlizzCon ‘09.
To your statement, Yes. It would be all that more epic in ICC. Lore wise, it could be like how the Wrath Gate was with the two major forces in Northrend come together to fight the force. Maybe they’ll have it where every faction in Northrend comes together into one giant seige to take down Arthas and the ICC. That’s what I’d like to see. Every person in the world, besides the Burning Legion and Scourge, to come together as one attack force, one people, to take down a common goal.
Anyway, great post. Thank you for reminding me that there is some intelligence from people who look into next patches other than “oh mah gawd, new this or that as soon as patch comes out”.
By Vallestra on Thursday, July 23rd, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Very interesting…. if Blood Elves could become druids, I’d reroll ASAP.
By Alayea on Thursday, July 23rd, 2009 at 4:57 pm
Quite an interesting take, and hopefully the upcoming BlizzCon will clear a lot of things up.
On a sidenote, you may want to add a spoiler tag to the quest dialogue.
By Octaviax on Thursday, July 23rd, 2009 at 4:58 pm
Interesting indeed. Of course, if they did introduce Druids of the Sun, I’d prefer it to be kept to Tauren only. however, isntead of ot being a new class, just make some changes between Tauren and Night Elf druids:
Nature Spells will remain the same for both sides
Some key example. Besides name changes, the only real changes between the two druids will be damage type and animation
1) Starfire———–>
2) Starfall———–>
3) Moonfire———>
By 5thlive on Thursday, July 23rd, 2009 at 5:18 pm
I am not sure about it will happen as “druid of the sun” might feel to much alike “druid of the wild” (in some area) or maybe a bit to much afar from the other. Just remember that every hero class have to feel different then the other classes
By Dyra on Thursday, July 23rd, 2009 at 5:36 pm
I’ve always hoped BElfs could one day become druids. ^^
It can only be a good thing to open up pre-existing classes where your options are limited to 1 race. I like druids, but I don’t want to play as a giant cow, even if I’ll spend the majority of my time shape-shifted. And if I were to ever play alliance the fact I’ld have to roll a goatsquid to play as the ass-kicking shamen class…. *shudder.
I’m suprised there’s not been any comments about tauren paladins though. Holy Cow people.
Though it would be quite a boost to the Horde having a race that has the opportunity to play as any of the 4 tanking classes and 3 of the 4 healing classes. The Horde has less choice than the Alliance when it comes to choosing races when it comes to being a tank or healer and this will hopefully address the balance a bit.
Tank-Horde
4/5 races can become Warriors
1/5 races can become Paladin
1/5 races can become Druid
5/5 races can become Death Knight
Tank-Alliance
4/5 races can become Warriors
3/5 races can become Paladin
1/5 races can become Druid
5/5 races can become Death Knight
Healer-Horde
2/5 races can become Priests
3/5 races can become Shamen
1/5 races can become Druid
1/5 races can become Paladin
Healer-Alliance
3/5 races can become Priests
1/5 races can become Shamen
1/5 races can become Druid
3/5 races can become Paladin
By Dyra on Thursday, July 23rd, 2009 at 5:45 pm
^sorry about the wall of text I just got a little more to add.
Admittedly it’s not much of a difference between the 2 factions, but I’ve found while playing Horde there’s a significant lack of tanks and healers, while the Alliance have plentiful amounts of both. I know part of the reason is probably due to the larger amount of players rolling Alliance, but I can’t help but think that some of the cause may also be down to there being a slightly less amount of choice when it comes to choosing race and class combinations.
By Slyfanitor on Thursday, July 23rd, 2009 at 5:52 pm
“Tauren Paladins” Okay if that ever happens, to me it only means one thing… The lore and everything that makes/made Warcraft, Warcraft, has passed and the game is on the verge of destruction
Tauren Paladins makes absolutely no sense no matter how I look at it, it’s just simply insane, if they ever make Tauren Paladins as far as I care they would also completely take the class and race restrictions of and any race could be any class
By batmunkh on Thursday, July 23rd, 2009 at 6:18 pm
^^
I completely agree, while there are some very interesting ideas in this article, Tauren Paladins is about the only thing that will NEVER happen in WoW, Lore-wise there is NOTHING, absolutely NOTHING about the using the power of the light in Tauren Lore. Again, while there are a lot of other parts in the article that are very plausible and interesting I think there was little thought put into the idea of Tauren Paladins…. >.<
By JeXus on Thursday, July 23rd, 2009 at 11:27 pm
@Drya Actualy 3 horde races can be priests. Forsaken, Troll, and Belf.
By asdasd on Friday, July 24th, 2009 at 12:13 am
tauren paladins lol that will never happen
By madarra on Friday, July 24th, 2009 at 12:51 am
@Drya
all five allience races can be warrior
By Glasso on Friday, July 24th, 2009 at 1:19 am
now im a bit on the fence when it comes to Tauren palaidins. It seems inpossible but as said in the post:
“It could be that An’she and/or Mu’sha (Elune to the night elves) are actually Naaru.”
If this were to be proved then it would be plausible to have Tauren palaidins lore wise.
I also agree with the idea of wildhammer shammans/druids and Blood elf druids of the sun. As they did have druids orignaly and did have a SUNwell.
Heartbourne this post is well thought out, keep up the good work.
By taz on Friday, July 24th, 2009 at 1:25 am
I could possibly see tauren paladins, becuase theres some taurens in argent cursade.
Also hate to call you out on this…but there is a typo “Dlood elfs”
By aadjed on Friday, July 24th, 2009 at 3:24 am
I can see Tauren pallies tho. Deathknights are fallen knights/heroes/palladins of Azeroth. As it is possible to roll a Tauren DK, pallies should be possible as well.
By Dragoro on Friday, July 24th, 2009 at 3:46 am
Well the first thing i remember i wildhammer dwarf saying to me when i first went to aerie peak was ”i wan’t to make this clear: we are NOT part of the alliance” so it’s unlikely they would join the alliance any time soon.
By Bloodraptor on Friday, July 24th, 2009 at 5:01 am
i’d like to say something about the picture at the top. it looks like that Night elf is an undead, just look at her arm and hand
By Throdar on Friday, July 24th, 2009 at 6:33 am
If they could some how show that Naaru were part of taruen lore then i would completely go with the idea of hamburger pallies, I would even roll one myself as each of my main characters is Taruen. So much speculation.. cant wait for the new content.
By Octaviax on Friday, July 24th, 2009 at 7:56 am
I highly doubt An’she and Mu’sha are Naaru. Why? THEY”RE MOON / SUN
Mu’sha is the Tauren name for the Moon. The Night Elves worship the moon and view it as the embodiment of Elune.
An’she is the Tauren name for the Sun. The Night Elves do not have any connection to the sun. The Tauren view both Mu’sha and An’She as the “eyes of the Earthmother” Their eternal goddess. Basically what the quest is saying is that question is being raised as to why, as Tauren, do their druids neglect the power of the sun that the Earthmother can bestow upon them, in exchange for the othe rhalf of their potential.
I have been seeing A LOT of Blood Elves becoming druids posts because of this quest. I doubt it more so. Why? Although there are FEW (VEry few. can only think of 1) BE Druids out there, it still doesnt add up to the whole of the BE. BE’s “worship” the Sun to oppose the NE worshipping the moon. If you look at their cultures, they are opposites.
By Lar on Friday, July 24th, 2009 at 10:39 am
Sounds OP.
By cocopuff on Friday, July 24th, 2009 at 10:56 am
BE can never be druids just like NE can never be mages the arcane in their corrupts them according to the lore would never allove them to make the connection with mother nature that is needed to practise drudism and NE keeping in mind wajha happen to highborn would never alove arcane in their blood i dont play a druid so i cant comment on the subject but for teh zubject whear alliance has more opotunitys mor ehealers more tanks etc i say bunch of BS horde has just as many healers as the horde have just as many healers and tanks
horde
shamans 3/5
paladins 1/5
DKs 5/5
priests 3/5
warriors 4/5
alliance
shaman 1/5
paladins 3/5
DKs 5/5
priest 4/5
warrior 5/5
so thats 7 healer classes to 8 healer classes boohoo alliance has one more healer class 10 tank classes
By cocopuff on Friday, July 24th, 2009 at 11:04 am
hit the submit comment by mistake continuening with my lst its 10 tanking classes for horde and 13 for the alliance 16 dps classes for the horde 18 dps classes for alliance those dont say anything its alll about how many players play each class its not the our fault if more people play each class
By cocopuff on Friday, July 24th, 2009 at 11:16 am
oops i didnt coutn warlocks mages or hunters or rogues
horde
warlocks 3/5
mages 3/5
hunters 4/5
rogues 4/5
alliance
warlocks 2/5
mages 3/5
hunters 3/5
warlocks 4/5
so when added in to the cractions its 30dps for alliance and 30dps for horde
By Ponyboyy on Friday, July 24th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
it seems kind of odd that Aponi sounds awfully similar to Epona.
By Moophobia on Friday, July 24th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
i would love to play a tauren pally. blizz can write or re-write their lore to fit….hell if it means tauren pallys i’ll drink that cool-aid
By Dan on Friday, July 24th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
I would like to see certain classes playable by more races…..druids being a 2 race class just seems weird. I’m sure they could pull something out of their asses and get another race on both sides to be able to be druids…
By cocopuff on Friday, July 24th, 2009 at 7:49 pm
moophobia@
that problem here is that blizz cant change the lore the problem is that this lore has been around for while this has been the story this is the history of of warcraft giving tourens the abilitys of a pally BE druid powers and NE mage powers would like going back in time and killing hitler the only solution would be add to the lore but then another problem arise hw to make it fit with the rest of it for instance if ythe BE do find some way to kick their arcane adiction it would mean they can no longer be mages or atleast not as strong and vice versa for the NE tourens cant worship both nature and the light unless all of sudden they become polytheistick which raisses teh question why? do you see my point? it wwould be much easier jus add a new class that combines the ability of hte classes the race is missing which create a whole enew orld of trouble you will end up with a bunch new problems
By Sancterus on Friday, July 24th, 2009 at 11:10 pm
In this cavalcade of speculation I see it like this:
Blood Elf Druid
WH Dwarf Druid
WH Dwarf Shaman
but a Tauren Paladin would need tweaking to the highest extreme. It would be a whole new class. The difference between Nature and Light is based on culture and religion (in this game naturally). The Tauren Paladin would have the same spells but named differently and maybe new icons. Like instead of Holy Light it could be Holy Ray and creates a lil sunlight shine on the target and heals them.
Honestly since Druid is such an exclusive class it should be divided between the factions. Sun based druids should be horde exclusive and Moon based druids should be alliance exclusive.
This would make the druid class a little more interesting in a sense that you would not only be a Druid of the Wild but a Druid of the Sun/Moon. Or you could leave the classes alone and make DotS/M faction exclusive heroes, but as blizz has said they want to wait on the new hero class to manage game balance.
By cocopuff on Saturday, July 25th, 2009 at 8:30 am
go back and read the war of teh ancients BE can never be druids tourens have bigger cahnce of becoming paladins as long the horde druiods are more stronger tehn alliance druids its fine by me
By Kagitaar on Saturday, July 25th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Octavix, you beat me to that point. There is no way that An’she and Mu’sha could be naaru, for one Mu’sha/Elune is already identified as the strongest non Titan eternal, and is the only true deity around. An’she has no connection to the Holy Light; revering An’she is not practicing the tenets of the Holy Light. They are entirely different faiths; one is the Sun deity, the other some rules thought up by geometric angels.
By Dyra on Saturday, July 25th, 2009 at 3:21 pm
OOops to the mistakes I made in my post. I think I may have still been a little drunk ^^. I know I forgot all about Gnome Warriors existance and I must have forgot BElfs can be Priests as well. My bad :P.
I still like the idea of Tauren Paladins though. Shame the lore will be hard to work around. All I can think of is you see a couple Tauren being Argent Crusade guards here and there, and assume they’re paladins. That’s all I got though.
By madarra on Sunday, July 26th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
@cocopuff didnt the BE solve their magic addiction when Velen clensed the Sunwell right after you banish Kil`jaeden back to his realm ?
By cocopuff on Monday, July 27th, 2009 at 6:56 am
@madrra i dont think so it wassnt the sunwell that was corrupting them it was the ac=rcane power after they lost the sunwell keal’thas promised to find a new source of power that whear he found illdidan and the burning legion so even if velen cleanced the sunwell and the BE got it back itts arcane would still used by the BE
By Toejoe on Monday, July 27th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
im mostly horde but i dont like blood elf, but i like playing pally. the best race in my mind are the Tauren and if they where pally that whoud be great! to the reading this thanks for your time and have a nice day.
By DrAwesome on Wednesday, July 29th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
hello this is about druids of the sun and very little about pallies focus on DotS like some1 said holy ray awesome sunlight does a immolate thing would be cool
By Rayl on Sunday, August 2nd, 2009 at 6:56 pm
the person that said the druid at the top was a undead…..looks like she is turning into tree form.
By Legal on Wednesday, August 12th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
id love to see a Caoladin its like my lifelong dream xD
i dont see why the Belfs cant be druids, i mean the high elves where droods so it only makes sense, same with the dwarves.
i think it might be a clue, but if its not, blizz should read this and make it a clue xD
By Woogie on Sunday, September 13th, 2009 at 8:37 am
Tauren Paladins could absolutely be worked in to the existing lore.
The “holy light” may very well be a product of the sun. The source of the light and the light itself were left undefined in the Warcraft Universe, and many thought for a long time that it was to avoid any possibly offensive parallels with Christianity or other monotheistic religions. It is not impossible that Blizzard has decided the undefined source of the light is the Sun.
Assuming this is what is happening, Tauren as Paladins and Priests is not a colossal stretch after all. They are already devotees of nature, and to a lesser extent, Elune and her moon. Balancing this devotion to the moon with an equivalent subsect praising the sun and it’s light is a line of lore that I personally don’t find too difficult to swallow at all.
Extrapolating from this assumption, we have Tauren cruising around in plate armor. They are both capable of beating on things with a hammer, and protecting their groups with a sword and board. They are also seen, in the current state of the game, healing comrades and augmenting them with beneficial spells. Allowing these roles to be paralled as Paladins rather than only Warriors and Druids really seems almost logical.
Once they discover the power of the sun and the light, why not put it to use?